Odyssey

Showdown in 2100 AD is an action game developed by Ed Averett and published by Magnavox in 1979 for Odyssey² .

A typical shootout of the Wild West, or not quite. Showdown in 2100 AD proposes that, but with a special touch. Each player must hit his opponent 10 times to win the game. The two shooters shoot for their lives but they are taken by surprise because sometimes their bullets ricochet in different directions, even in their own direction! Each player has 6 balls and can reload their weapons by finding the hidden balls in trees that match their outfit. But attention to these stray bullets !!! Showdown in 2100 AD is a simple game, typical arcade style in 1980. Known for its simplicity, this game is for those who want nothing more than a simple exchange of fire.

Speedway and Spin-Out are both racing games and Crytologic is a puzzle game, all published by Magnavox in 1978 for Odyssey².
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Speedway is a vertically racing game against the clock. The player has two minutes to make is way to the first position. Spin-Out is again a racing game, but this time based on laps. Two players can compete on different tracks and difficulty levels. Cryptologic is a puzzle game. The goal is to decipher a word entered and scrambled by another player.

Out of this World / Helicopter Rescue was developed and published in 1979 by Magnavox for Odyssey².

Out of this World is much like Space Rendezvous and Lunar Lander. In the match time, the two players must dock their ship on the orbiting mother ship. The first pilot to have completed 10 perfet docks wins. However, every players has 50 megajoules of energy, but this number can increase or decrease. For example, if you crash your ship on the planet, you need 10 megajoules restart. To refuel, you should land softly on the ground and thus gain 10 megajoules. In addition, by performing a docking, you will be refueled. If you lack fuel, you are eliminated.

In Helicopter Rescue, the player is in control of a Daredevil rescue helicopter. The goal is to save as many people as possible in two minutes. The survivors will have to be transported from the roof of Doomsday Hotel to the resort. The helicopter is controlled by the analog stick and the rope by the action button.

You probably guessed it, Pocket Billiards is a sports game released by Magnavox in 1980 for Odyssey².

It is in the title, two player can choose one of the modes available: eight-ball or rotation. In the eight-ball mode, the first player to pocket one of the two black balls wins. In the rotation mode, the black balls are replaced by colorful balls and the winner is the one who pockets the most balls.

K.C. Munchkin is developed by Ed Averett and published in 1981 by Philips. K.C. Munchkin is possibly the most famous Odyssey²’s game, but perhaps not for the right reasons. Philips launched the game to take advantage of the popularity of Pac-Man’s gameplay, but tried to change the gameplay just enough to avoid a demand letter. Atari, who has the rights to Pac-Man, obviously sues Philips for copyright infringement. Two of the three judges ruled against the Philips and forbid the sale of K.C. Munchkin in stores and ordered that they empty all their stock. Despite the rulling, the game continued to be widely sold. It is very easy to find this game today. The verdict against Philips became an important precedent in software and games copyright law.

The principle of K.C. Munchkin is very similar to Pac-Man. It embodies a small character who must make his way through a maze to collect pellets. Things would be way too simple if it wouldn’t be for a bunch of ghosts pursuing! Fortunately, some flashing pellets will make you invincible to their assaults; better yet, you can even eat the unscrupulous ghosts and give them a taste of their own medicine! After all the pellets are collected, you move to the next level, with faster and more aggressive ghosts.

Invaders from Hyperspace is an action game released by Magnavox in 1972 for Odyssey².

The player is in the battle command center at the heart of the United Planets Galactic Interstellar Empire. From there, he must monitor the activites of the Terien and Lorin from a 43 billion light years distance. His misison is to control and protect the planets of the solar systems from the enemy’s fleet, using remotely controlled warships. The player controls his ship with the joystick and launches lasers with the action button. The enemy’s fleet will have no mercy and will try to destroy you and conquer the planets. The conquered planets become of the same color as the the enemy ship. To win the planets, the player must shoot it (the enemy does the same thing). If the player’s ship is unfortunately destroyed, a new one is launched from a planet not conquered by the enemy. If the player crashes on a hostile planet, the ship and the planet are destroyed; destroyed planets don’t reappear. The winner is the first one to have destroyed ten enemy ships.

Bowling and Basketball duo are sports games developed and published by Magnavox in 1978 for Odyssey².

In Bowling, four players compete in turn on a bowling lane, with a top-down view. The rules are exactly the same as if you were on a real bowling alley. In Basketball, two players also compete, but this time in a game of five minutes. The player who scores the most points in the allotted time wins.

Block Out and Breakdown are arcade games released by Magnavox in 1979 for Odyssey².

The purpose of Blockout is simple, get through the four block rows. There is a character on every row that replaces the destroyed blocks. Every time the character replaces a block, he must recharge by reaching either end of the row. In the multiplayer mode, the second player would control these little characters in order to prevent the first player to win in 90 seconds.

Breakdown is a variation of Blockout. The aim is to break as many blocks as possible in 60 seconds. Unlike Blockout, the ball doesn’t bounce when it hits a block, instead it simply disappears with the block itself. As in Blockout, the second player controls these small characters, but this time they move much faster and do not have to recharge (but they have a limited number of blocks that they can replace).

Baseball is a sport game developed and published by Magnavox in 1978 for Odyssey².

This game respects quite faithfully the real rules of the game. The three numbers displayed in the lower left corner indicate respectively the balls, the strikes and the withdrawals. The defending player controls the catchers with the joystick and the batting controls the ball’s curve with the joystick. A ball caught in flight automatically equates to a withdrawal and if it is not caught, the defence must pick it up and throw it with the joystick and the action button. The teams exchange position when there is three outs. The game lasts nine innings or ten if the score is even in the ninth inning.

The Armored Encounter and Sub Chase are action games developed and published by Magnavox in 1978 for Odyssey².

Armored Encounter is literally a clone of Atari’s Combat. Different terrains and weapons (and combination of weapons) are available to players: a flat, rugged or mountainous terrain; and a cannon, guided missiles, mines, cannon and mines, guided missiles and mines. The players must eliminate one another in three minutes. The winner is the one who touches the most times the other player. In Sub Chase, the player is a fighter pilot in command of a Hawk jet against the missile launcher Shark submarine. In the multiplayer mode, the first player controls the jet and the second one controls the submarine. The player must hit the other player as often as possible in three minutes; every successful shot counts for one point. To add to the difficulty, there are neutral boats on the surface, each time a player touches a neutral vessel, he looses a point. Whoever has the most points at the end of the allotted time wins.